Toilets of the World

William Randolph Hearst
was an amazingly influential man.
Teddy Roosevelt wanted a war, and Hearst's newspapers gave it
to him by driving public opinion to support the war with Spain
in 1898.
But Hearst, like any man, still needed ordinary
toilets and sinks.

This is one of the many
guest bathrooms
at Hearst's mountaintop estate at San Simeon along the California coast.
He continually designed, built, re-designed, and re-built the complex
over the period from 1919 through 1947.

Guests using
these guest rooms and baths
included Winston Churchill, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Roosevelt,
along with many Hollywood figures.

Welcome to the Toilets of the World,
where you can view toilets and other plumbing from all
around the world.
Are you wondering how to use a
bidet, or even what a
bidet is?
Curious about what the toilets are like in a specific country
such as France,
Turkey,
China,
Greece,
Japan,
or many others?
Would you like to see some of the
worst toilets
in the world?
Or maybe you're interested in
historical toilets, from ancient
Greece
and
Rome,
or even the
Stone Age?
Do you wonder who
invented the flush toilet?
(It wasn't
Thomas Crapper)
You've come to the right place!
The Toilets of the World are ready for your visit.
Learn about toilets, bidets, urinals, sinks, tubs,
and other plumbing from all around the world.

Whoever you are, you are going to think that
other countries have strange toilets.
But remember, they are thinking the same thing
about your peculiar plumbing.
Someone from the U.S. wrote me:
"I visited Italy 3 years ago and had no idea
that some restaurants had in-ground toilets.
I was just aghast when I went into the john,
but eventually figured it out."
As I replied to her, try to imagine the poor visitor
to the U.S. ...

"2.6 billion people don't have sanitation.
I don't mean that they have no toilet in
their house and must use a public one with
queues and fees.
Or that they have an outhouse, or a rickety
shack that empties into a filthy drain
or pigsty.
All that counts as sanitation, though not a
safe variety.
The people who have those are the fortunate
ones.
Four in ten people have no access to any
latrine, toilet, bucket, or box. Nothing.
..."

Before you complain that I have not yet visited
and photographed your favorite one, realize that
(with one exception) these are all places I have been.
If you would like to send me an airline ticket to
Hawaii, Kenya, India, coastal China, or wherever,
please just contact me for the shipping details. ...

Toilets are part of everyday life, at least for those
of us fortunate enough to have modern sanitation.
But some people have broader interests in bathroom
pictures: sinks, bidets, hot water heaters, urinals,
waste treatment plants, ...